Fans brave heat during World Cup viewing party at KFC Yum! Center

A Yum! Center spokeswoman said the June 26 World Cup viewing party for the game against Germany drew around 200 people. (Source: WAVE 3 News)

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – The KFC Yum! Center hosted a World
Cup viewing party on its plaza Tuesday for the U.S. Men's National Team matchup
against Belgium.

A couple dozen fans braved the sun and the hot weather to
watch the U.S. fall 2-1 to Belgium in the first matchup for America in the
Round of 16.

The Yum! Center said Thursday's World Cup viewing party for
the game against Germany drew around 200 people who watched the game and many
more who just stopped by for a few minutes. The entire viewing party came together in three days.

Sandra Kendall, Director of Marketing for the Yum! Center,
said the viewing party is the start of more public events the venue would like
to host on the plaza

"We would like to bring events that are great for families, maybe put
some bouncy house out there and different things that kids can do," Kendall
said. "Of course we did the movies last
year but we may continue that again this year.
We're looking at concerts on the plaza and even dance competitions or
dance events, so there's a number of things that we can do that attract
families and adults and people just wanting to have fun."

Kendall says the venue sees it as a way to be a good
neighbor and draw business to the downtown area. "We're not doing this to make
money," she said. "We're doing this to give back to the community."

Keith Brooks, Communications Specialist with the Louisville
Downtown Development Partnership, says the hope is to draw more people to the
area to show what it has to offer.

"Our hope is to encourage business activity
and also just to let people know that there's something happening downtown
every day," he said.

He says the family-type crowd that might enjoy a free movie
night could include different people than would show up at a concert or game in
the Yum! Center.

"We want to make it accessible to everyone
that comes to downtown, whether they're a visitor, whether they're coming with
their family or whether they work downtown," said Brooks.